India rebuked by UN discrimination watchdog

GENEVA: India must better protect tribal peoples and disadvantaged castes subject to extrajudicial killings, torture and violence by law enforcement, a United Nations watchdog said Tuesday.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) also said the world’s most populous country urgently needs to address hate crimes against Bengali-speaking Muslims.

“The committee was gravely concerned about reports of large-scale violations perpetrated by law enforcement officials against ethnic and ethno-religious groups, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, including Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, particularly Dalits, and non-citizens,” it said in a statement on its findings.

“These included racially motivated violence, excessive use of force, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary and prolonged detention without due process, torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence.”

The committee called on India to investigate all such allegations and bring those responsible to justice.

CERD’s opinions and recommendations are non-binding but carry reputational weight.

Caste remains a powerful determinant of social status in India, shaping access to resources, education and opportunity.

The millennia-old social hierarchy divides Hindus by function and social standing.

“For Dalits, it’s important to have indicators showing that segregation was effectively and substantively reduced,” based on the committee’s previous observations, said committee member Stamatia Stavrinaki.

CERD, a committee of 18 independent rights experts, monitors adherence to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by its 182 member countries.

Under the convention, which came into force in 1969, countries must eliminate racial discrimination, eradicate practices of segregation and guarantee equality before the law.